Kashmir church faces second attack, PM’s help sought

May 26, 2012: A priest in Srinagar, capital of Jammu and Kashmir state of India, has sought the prime minister’s help after his parish church faced second attack this year.

Some unidentified people tried to burn the Holy Family Catholic Church in Srinagar, on Wednesday evening.

In a message to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, parish priest Fr. Mathew Thomas said this was the second “untoward and suspicious” incident at the church this year.

On January 28, some miscreants burnt the priest’s motorcycle parked on the veranda of his residence.

“In view of the above incidents, we humbly request your good self to take immediate steps for safeguarding the minority Christian community living in Kashmir valley and their religious places,” the priest’s message to the prime minister pleaded.

He also urged the premier to order a probe into the incidents which, he said, have made the Christians “feel very much insecure and unsafe in Kashmir Valley.”

Bishop Peter Celestine Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar said he suspected Muslim fundamentalists are behind the incidents.

Bishop Elampassery said the Church people filed a case, but the police advised them not to play up such incidents.